12 Must-Try Ghanaian Dishes

Ask anyone who grew up in Ghana what a dish means and the answer is rarely just about taste. Waakye sold from a pot on the way to school, the smell of kenkey opening from its leaf, the sound of fufu being pounded in the yard, these are memories of place and people as much as food. Ghanaian cooking is generous by nature, made in big pots to be shared, and the act of eating with your hands from a common plate carries a warmth that cutlery never quite matches.

There is pride in it too. The jollof rivalry is played out with real affection because the dish stands for hospitality and celebration, the thing you cook when people you love come together. Northern staples like tuo zaafi, Sunday rice balls, and everyday greens like kontomire each carry their own regional loyalties and family recipes, passed down without ever being written on paper. When Ghanaians abroad seek out these dishes, they are reaching for that sense of belonging. A plate of banku and tilapia in a UK restaurant, or a pot of red red cooked in a home kitchen, is a way of keeping home close.

how-ghanaians-eat

To understand Ghanaian food, start with the plate rather than the recipe. A meal is usually a starchy staple that fills and satisfies, set beside a soup or stew that carries the flavour, the protein and the heat. The staple might be swallowed rather than chewed, as with fufu or banku, and much of the time you eat with your right hand, pulling a piece of the staple, dipping it, and lifting a little soup with each bite.

Ghana sits on the coast of West Africa, so fish and shellfish run through the cooking, alongside chicken, goat and beef. Cassava, plantain, maize, rice and yam do the heavy lifting on the starch side, and a handful of ingredients, tomatoes, onions, ginger, dried and fresh chillies, smoked fish and shito, the dark pepper sauce, appear again and again. If you want the wider picture before the dish by dish tour, our guide to Ghanaian food sets the scene.

waakye

Waakye is rice and beans cooked together with dried millet or sorghum leaves, which give the dish its distinctive reddish brown colour. It is a morning and midday favourite, sold from pots at roadside stalls and dished onto a leaf or into a bowl. What makes waakye special is not just the rice and beans but everything piled alongside it, and this is where regulars have strong opinions.

A full plate of waakye can carry spaghetti, boiled egg, fried fish or meat, gari, a scoop of stew and a generous spoon of shito. It is a build your own kind of meal, and no two servings look quite the same. If you only try one Ghanaian dish, this is a strong contender because it shows how a single plate can hold so many textures at once.

banku-with-tilapia

Banku is a smooth, slightly sour dough made from fermented maize and cassava, cooked and stirred until it holds together in a soft mound. Its natural partner is grilled tilapia and a fiery ground pepper sauce, often served with a small side of shito. You tear a piece of banku, use it to scoop up the pepper and a flake of fish, and eat with your hands.

The sourness of the banku against the smoky, charred fish and the sharp heat of the pepper is one of the defining flavour combinations in Ghanaian cooking. Banku also turns up next to okro soup or a rich stew, but banku, tilapia and pepper together is the version people travel for and order first.

kenkey

Kenkey is a close cousin of banku, another fermented maize dough, but it is wrapped and steamed, traditionally in corn husks or plantain leaves, which gives it a firmer texture and a deeper sour tang. There are regional styles, with Ga kenkey and Fante kenkey each having their loyal following.

Kenkey is eaten with fried fish, shito and a fresh pepper and onion relish, or with a soup. The leaf wrapping is part of the experience, and the aroma when you open it is unmistakable. It keeps well, travels well, and is the kind of food that reminds people of home the moment they smell it.

fufu-with-soup

Fufu is the great swallow food of Ghana, a soft, stretchy staple traditionally made by pounding boiled cassava and plantain, or cassava and cocoyam, in a large wooden mortar until it becomes smooth and elastic. Today many households use fufu flour or ready made versions to save the long pounding, but the principle is the same.

You do not chew fufu. You pinch off a piece, dip it into the soup, and swallow. Its usual partners are light soup, a clear, peppery tomato based broth with fish or meat, and groundnut soup, a thick, nutty soup made with ground peanuts. Both are warming, deeply savoury and built for spooning up with each soft piece of fufu.

red-red

Red red is a black eyed bean stew cooked in red palm oil, which gives the dish its rich colour and its name. It is hearty, mildly spiced and completely satisfying, and it is very often served with fried ripe plantain on the side, the sweetness of the plantain balancing the savoury beans.

Red red is a favourite of students, workers and anyone wanting a filling meal without meat, though many enjoy it with fish or a boiled egg too. It is one of the easiest Ghanaian dishes to fall for, and one of the simplest to cook at home once you have palm oil and black eyed beans in the cupboard.

kelewele

Kelewele is the snack that people remember. It is ripe plantain cut into cubes, tossed with ginger, dried chilli, and a mix of warm spices, then deep fried until the edges caramelise. The result is sweet, spicy, smoky and a little sticky, sold in paper cones from evening street stalls and eaten warm.

It works as a snack on its own, as a side to a bean stew or rice, or as something to nibble while you wait for the main event. Kelewele is proof that Ghanaian street food deserves as much attention as the sit down dishes, and it is often the first thing newcomers ask for again.

bofrot

Bofrot, sometimes called Ghanaian doughnuts or puff puff, are small balls of sweetened dough, fried until golden and slightly crisp on the outside while staying soft inside. They are flavoured simply, often with a hint of nutmeg, and sold warm from roadside pans and market stalls.

They are the everyday treat, eaten with a cup of tea, handed out at gatherings, or bought by the bagful on the way home. Bofrot is humble food, but it is the kind of thing that brings a smile of recognition to anyone who grew up with it, and it sits happily beside kelewele as one of Ghana's best loved sweet snacks.

ghana-style-jollof

No Ghanaian food list is complete without jollof. Ghana style jollof rice is built on a base of blended tomatoes, onions and peppers, cooked down and used to cook long grain rice, often the aromatic basmati style, so each grain takes on the colour and flavour of the sauce. It is the centrepiece of parties, weddings and Sunday lunches.

The friendly rivalry between Ghanaian and Nigerian jollof is real and much loved, and both camps defend their version with pride. The Ghanaian style is prized for its fragrant rice and its balance of tomato, pepper and spice. Serve it with chicken, grilled fish, a spoon of shito or a side of fried plantain and you have a plate people remember.

tuo-zaafi

Tuo zaafi, often shortened to TZ, comes from the north of Ghana and is a staple of Dagomba and wider northern cooking. It is a soft, smooth dough made from maize or millet flour, cooked to a texture built for swallowing, much like banku or fufu but distinct in taste.

TZ is eaten with a green soup made from ayoyo leaves, a slippery, nutritious leaf, often alongside a tomato and pepper stew called zaafi soup. It is warming, filling and a genuine taste of northern Ghana, and finding it on a UK menu is a sign you have found a kitchen that cooks beyond the coastal classics.

omo-tuo

Omo tuo is rice balls, boiled rice mashed and shaped into smooth, soft rounds. It is a Sunday dish above all, the sort of food a family gathers around after church, comforting and unhurried. The rice is cooked until very soft, then mashed and moulded so it holds together and soaks up soup.

Omo tuo is served in a bowl of soup, most often groundnut soup or a spicy palm nut soup, sometimes with pieces of meat or fish. Soft, mild and made for slow eating, it is the kind of dish that turns a meal into an occasion.

kontomire-palava

Kontomire stew, also known as palava sauce, is made from cocoyam leaves, which are similar in spirit to spinach, cooked down with palm oil, onions, tomatoes, ground melon seeds known as egusi, and smoked fish or meat. It is green, rich and full of savoury depth.

It is usually served with boiled yam, plantain, rice or cocoyam, and it is a good example of how Ghanaian cooking makes leafy greens the heart of a dish rather than a side salad. If you want a taste of everyday home cooking rather than party food, palava sauce is where to look.

boiled-yam-garden-egg

Boiled yam with garden egg stew is homely, honest food. Yam is peeled, cut and boiled until tender, then served with a stew built around garden eggs, the small white and green African aubergines, cooked down with onions, tomatoes, palm oil and fish or meat, sometimes mashed into a soft, smoky relish known as garden egg stew or abomu.

It is the sort of meal that fills a house with the smell of home. Simple, nourishing and deeply comforting, it rounds off any list of must try Ghanaian dishes and reminds you that some of the best cooking needs only a few good ingredients.

where-to-find-these-dishes-in-the-uk

You do not need to fly to Accra to eat this way. Ghanaian and West African restaurants across the UK serve banku and tilapia, waakye, fufu with soup and Ghana style jollof, and the best way to find a kitchen near you is to search for African restaurants near you.

If you would rather cook at home, the ingredients are the easy part once you know where to shop. Fermented maize dough, fufu flour, palm oil, black eyed beans, smoked fish, shito, garden eggs and ripe plantain are all stocked by African food shops, and you can browse African food stores near you.